By Mary M. Heidbrink, San Antonio Express-News :
February 15, 2014

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Preceded by: parents Catherine and Edward Oxford; two brothers and a sister.

Survived by: Wife Patricia Godfrey Oxford; son Tom Oxford and daughter-in-law Elsa; and daughters Teresa Oxford and son-in-law David Word, and Diana Oxford and her wife Doreen; eight grandchildren and a sister.

Services: Celebration of life from 1 to 3 p.m. at Vaughan's Funeral Home, 319 E. San Antonio St., Boerne.

San Antonio — Even as he served for 20 years in the Air Force, education was never far from the mind of Emory “Bud” Coleman Oxford. After retiring from the service in 1967, he tried a few other careers but nothing stuck.

“He was in insurance sales for awhile, then briefly air traffic control, but it just wasn't what his heart wanted to do,” his wife Patricia Godfrey Oxford said.

He wanted to return to school, but was hesitant because of his responsibilities, so the couple worked out a plan. His wife would get a job, and Oxford would go to college. He was 39.

Oxford died Monday at 83.

The oldest of five children, Oxford enlisted in the Air Force when he was 17 to help his family financially.

After eight years in the service, he applied for officer candidate school at the urging of his superior officers and the pilots with whom he worked.

He was accepted and earned his wings the same year he met his future wife, whom he spotted washing the family car across the street from where his parents lived.

“I was in high school ... and he asked me out,” his wife said. “Very shortly, we became engaged.” They'd known each other for six days when Oxford proposed. Their marriage spanned 58 years.

Oxford and his wife spent a brief time in West Palm Beach, several years at Travis AFB in California, and later moved to Hill AFB in Utah. During his military career, he flew C-124 air transports, huge four-engine prop planes that carried equipment all over the country and the world, his wife recalled.

Long before cellphones and the Internet, when Oxford was on a transport mission, his family didn't hear from him for weeks at a time.

“I remember him being gone a lot, but he was always a presence,” his daughter, Teresa Oxford, said. “It never crossed any of our minds that he would not be there when we needed something, physically and emotionally.”

Oxford graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington, becoming a Certified Public Accountant in 1976. After working for the Internal Revenue Service for a few years, he opened his own tax account-ing office in Hurst near Dallas, where the family settled after his Air Force retire-ment.

He was supportive when his wife decided she also wanted to get a degree.

“Without a single qualm or thought, he said, 'That's what you need to do ... I will support you in every way I can,'” Patricia Oxford said.

When her career at USAA took off, he cut back on his own business hours to shoulder his share of the commute from Hurst to San Antonio. They finally moved to Fair Oaks Ranch in 1995.